Feedback & Followups

The state’s first offshore wind turbine will be a pilot project three miles off Cape Charles on the Eastern Shore (April issue cover story,“More than a breeze?”).

The 479-foot prototype is being developed by Gamesa Energy USA and Newport News Shipbuilding, a division of Newport News-based Huntington Ingalls Industries.

The project was approved by the Virginia Marine Resources Commission in late March after a public hearing in Newport News. Before the turbine is built, it needs to get the approval of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and a review by the Coast Guard.

The prototype is scheduled for completion in late 2013, a target that would make it the first offshore wind turbine in the U.S.

PETA ready to name a road

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) appears to be the first organization to jump at the chance to name a Virginia road (Editor’s View, March issue, “Naming rights idea good for a joke, not much else”). The General Assembly this year passed a bill allowing the commonwealth to sell the naming rights to its roads, bridges and highways.

The animal rights group wrote to state transportation officials, saying it wants to name a road “Spay Today Way” to remind people of the need to sterilize their pets.

PETA is asking the state for a nonprofit discount for its naming rights. The bill approved by the legislature recommends that naming rights be sold for $5,000 to $200,000. PETA hasn’t decided which road it wants to rename.